Houses for Flood Victims: Reddys made tall promises fail to realise

Jan 21/2010

By Shivakumar G Malagi

Despite the Reddy brothers boast that mining barons of Bellary would build 50,000 houses for flood victims of north Karnataka, they have now come forward to build a mere 6580 houses in 18 villages of the district.
After months of dilly dallying eight iron ore mining companies of the district signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the state government on Wednesday to shift and rebuild 18 floodravaged villages in Bellary.Their contribution to the flood relief effort falls far short of what the Reddy brothers had promised a few months ago. They had announced that 50,000 houses would be built at a cost of Rs 1.15 lakh each under the Navagrama scheme for the flood-affected people of north Karnataka.
Signing the deal at district in-charge minister G Janardhan Reddy's homeoffice `Kuteeram' on Wednesday, only a handful of mine owners were present. And the 6,000-odd homes is a far cry from what is actually needed in the 16 villages in Siruguppa taluk and two villages in Hadagli taluk that must be relocated upstream from the river Tungabhadra.
Soon after the floods, on October 9, 2009, Mr.Reddy had said no government funds would be sought for housing schemes in district, while using his pro-active promise to rebuild to gain the upper hand over Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa during their failed putsch in November 2009.
The building of houses for flood victims had even become a prestige issue with the mining lords turned ministers during their fracas with the Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa. The ministers tried to steal a march over the government by laying the foundation stone for the Navagrama programme in Bellary, Gadag, Koppal and Raichur districts, before the the government could launch its rehabilitation project `Asare'.
But all this seems to have been for nothing. Sources said the Bellary ministers could not mobilize the funds required as many of the miners did not contribute as expected.
Sixteen villages of Siruguppa taluk and two in Hadagli taluk were severely affected by the floods in September last year. The revenue department had recommended the shifting of these floodprone villages from the bank of the river Tungabhadra to safer ground as a precaution.
Deputy commissioner B Shivappa told the Deccan Chronicle that the layout plan prepared by the government would be used as a model by the mining companies when rebuilding these villages. While the mining companies will contribute the Rs 1.15 lakh required to build each house, the road, underground drainage, drinking water and other civic amenities will be provided by the government.
When contacted, health minister B. Sriramulu maintained Mr Janardhan Reddy had delivered everything he had promised for the flood victims. "The MoU has been signed with mine owners for building houses not only in Bellary, but other flood affected districts of north Karnataka," he contended.